Recipes: Storybook Brownie Cake

• Prep Time:20 minutes
• Cook Time:70 minutes
• Serves:20

 

Tagged:
brownie, chocolate, dessert, easter, holiday, storybook cake,

This Storybook Brownie Cake is like no brownie you've ever made. It's half-scratch, so easier than it looks, and will make your Easter table a place for oohs and ahs!

This recipe is part of our Whimsical Easter Gathering series. Find other great recipes for an Easter buffet at that link.

 

Foodie Byte

The easiest way to frost the cake is using an offset spatula to frost small sections at a time and blend them into each other. The icing doesn’t necessarily have to be smooth, just consistent and thick enough to hold the eggs.

Ingredients

2 18.4 oz. boxes of Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie mix
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
For Vanilla Buttercream Frosting—
4 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For Decorating—
4 10oz. bags Hershey’s Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Eggs

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325°F.
Combine ingredients in a mixer and beat until well integrated.
Spray three 6-inch round cake pans with nonstick pan coating
Pour batter evenly between the three.
Bake 50 minutes.
At 50 minutes, raise the temperature to 350°F and bake an additional 20 minutes.
Remove from oven and test with toothpick, if they are still not fully cooked leave in for an additional 5-10 minutes—depends heavily on how thick the outer wall of the pans are.
Once fully baked, remove from oven and place on cooling rack. Allow cakes to fully cool before removing. Use a butter knife to gently loosen the outer ring of the cakes, if some of the outer wall breaks away, cover with frosting later.
Once fully cooled, remove from pans and trim the tops of the cakes flat. Generously apply frosting to the top of the first layer and coat evenly. Add the second brownie cake on top, making sure it is evenly centered while the frosting is still workable, then generously apply a layer of frosting to the top of the second cake. For the top layer, place the brownie cake upside down so the bottom of the pan outlines as the top of the cake, this ensures a smooth flat surface on top to work with.
Once you have centered the three cakes, begin icing the outer walls, you’ll want approximately a third of an inch worth of frosting to a half an inch to make sure the eggs stay in place.
Once fully frosted, begin applying the candy-coated eggs in any pattern you like, we did rows of colors and worked our way up a row at a time. If you find they aren’t sticking in some areas, simply dip the backside in the excess frosting for a firmer hold.
Once you have finished icing your cake, refrigerate for 30 minutes, letting the frosting firm up on the outer walls and ensures the candy eggs will stay on.
FROSTING DIRECTIONS:
Combine 1 cup room temperature butter into a mixer with 4 cups powdered sugar.
Mix on medium for five minutes, the mixture should go from being chunky to light and whipped. Add 2 teaspoons vanilla and 1/2 cup whipping cream. Mix for another two minutes.
Cover and set aside until ready to use.

source FoodChannel http://ift.tt/1VhgxNk